I would like to share with you some information on a drug used in treating<strong> MS.</strong> The information that I’m about to share is on the drug called <strong>Copaxone.</strong> The development of <strong>Copaxone</strong> as an effective and ultimately widely prescribed treatment for MS actually begins with serendipity, an accidental stroke of good fortune. So some Scientists at a very highly respected basic research facility in the country of Israel were actually seeking a new compound that would mimic the action of a naturally occurring protein in the body. It is (known as myelin basic protein, a component of the myelin, the outside fatty covering of the nerve fibers that is a principal site of damage in MS). When producing an animal model of<strong> MS</strong> known as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis or (EAE). The Scientists failed in their quest but never gave up in their work. The Scientists recognized that one of the compounds they made, known as originally as Copolymer 1 ( or Cop 1) and then named Copaxone. This Copaxone actually seemed to prevent or lessen the effects of EAE in their animals they used to experiment with (rats and mice). A very smart scientist named Louis Pasteur noted,” Chance favors the prepared mind”. These astute scientist at the Weizmann Institute rec0gnized to use their compound to treat MS a disease for which no effective therapy was available at the time, and thus began the fascinating development of Copaxone.
They say the rest is history and no one is in a better position to recount it than Dr. Johnson. He is medically trained as a Neurologist and he rose to the position he held for many years as Chairman of the Neurology Department at the University of Maryland. Dr. Johnson became particularly interested in MS because of the theory, unproved to this day. That MS was caused by a viral infection.
Dr. Johnson became one of the most leading investigators of interferon treatment of <a href="http://jamescornershop.com" title="herbal supplements, Puritan's Pride, CWI Medical, Vitamin World" target="_blank">MS,</a> because one of the principal effects of this class of biologicals is interference with viral infection.
After lessons learned from the clinical trails of interferon beta-1b or Betaseron (which actually became the first drug market for treatment of MS), Dr. Johnson became the lead investigator in the pivotal trail of Copaxone. The success led to its commercial introduction and first to the US market in1997.
Now I would like to share how Dr. Johnson became personally involve in the Copaxone story. It starts back in the late 1970’s, when Dr. Johnson a young neurologist and investigator at Albert Einstein College of Medicine was asked by Prof. Murray Bornstein to join him in designing and conducting the first trails of Copaxone (then Cop1) in the United States. Dr. Johnson did so with some trepidation, because of what Dr. Merritt the “dean” of Neurology in the United States had said, “The best way I know to ruin a good career in Neurology is to advocate a treatment for MS”. But fortunately, Dr. Johnson skepticism was dispelled. The results of those early trails were positive and the subsequent testing confirmed those successes that lead to the commercialization of Copaxone. The above information I got from the foreword of the book called The Remarkable Story of Copaxone, An Approach to the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. The author is Kenneth P. Johnson, M.D.
